How Jeremy Sochan won the NBA Finals before it even began

After a classic in Game 7 of the 2026 Western Conference Finals, the NBA Finals is officially set. The San Antonio Spurs will represent the West, while the New York Knicks will represent the Eastern Conference for the first time since 1999 (when they, coincidentally, lost to the Spurs in the Finals in five games).

Clearly, every player on both rosters is close enough to taste their shot at a championship ring. After all, 28 other teams have been eliminated from the playing field, and after a seven-month marathon, all that is needed is four more wins.

However, there is one player with a better chance of getting a ring in the next two weeks than anyone else.

Jeremy Sochan pulls off an all-time hedge

Coming into his fourth NBA season, Jeremy Sochan had only ever played for the Spurs. However, the team began to phase him out of its rotation (Sochan only averaged 12.8 MPG in 28 games). So, in February, the two parties officially decided to part ways, with the Spurs buying out Sochan and leaving him available for the other 29 teams to pick up.

The Knicks almost immediately jumped on this opportunity, just one day after he was bought out, reports started circulating that Sochan would be headed to The Big Apple. Unfortunately, Sochan has had even less of a role with the Knicks, averaging just 6.9 minutes per game in 16 regular-season games and only garbage time in five playoff games.

The good news is that, no matter what the outcome of this series is, Sochan will likely be walking away with a ring.

If the Knicks win, obviously Sochan will be on the stage with his teammates. And if the Spurs win, NBA rules stipulate that they have to offer a ring to anyone who has suited up for them at any point during the season. So, Sochan has the ultimate hedge in this situation.

Now, just because the Spurs are going to offer Sochan a ring does not mean he has to or will take it. Back in 2016, Anderson Varejão played for both of that year’s Finals participants (the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Golden State Warriors). When his former team, the Cavaliers, beat his current team in Golden State, the former offered the veteran big man a ring — but he declined, arguing that it wouldn’t quite sit right.

Given that Sochan is a professional athlete and therefore an obsessive competitor, it is unlikely if his Knicks fall that he will accept the ring the Spurs offer him. So, at the end of the day, this is kind of a moot point. Still, it is crazy that Sochan is technically in a win-win situation ahead of what should be one of the most intriguing and hotly contested Finals in recent memory.

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